


I'll See You at the End of the Universe

by Covinskey



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Cecil is immortal, Immortality, M/M, Sad, The End of the world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-04
Updated: 2015-09-04
Packaged: 2018-04-19 00:42:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4726355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Covinskey/pseuds/Covinskey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the end, and somehow, the impossible has happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll See You at the End of the Universe

It had been years, decades, centuries, maybe even millennia since Cecil had buried the aged and broken body of his lover. Time had passed, as it always did, so slow and so fast at the same time. Carlos’s corpse had rotted away to bone, and the bones had become dust, and the dust had returned to earth until there was nothing left of Carlos at all, just Cecil’s memories. Such was the way of the universe.

Any more, Cecil had begun to doubt his memories. He doubted that he had ever known a brilliant scientist, that hair that perfect could ever have existed, that he could have ever been as happy as he had been when they were together.

And sure, Cecil still had days when he felt happy. When he watched the cats in the men's room at the radio station, when he talked to his friends, when he read the news, he still felt happy. But this happiness was nothing like the happiness he had known with Carlos.

He should have moved on. At this point, he really should have found someone, loved them, married them, had a couple kids, and watch them all turn to dust as well. Carlos would have wanted that, old woman Josie had told him. But old woman Josie was dust too, nowadays.

And it wasn’t even the fear of loving and losing again, like so many people assumed. To lose a loved one was the risk one took whenever the ancient gods or the city council opened one’s heart enough to love someone. No, Cecil knew that the happiness of a life together would outweigh the grief. He didn’t even grieve for Carlos anymore, and he didn’t feel guilty about that either. He couldn’t spend the remaining centuries wrapped up in misery over a relationship that had lasted an eye's-blink of his life.

No, that wasn’t it at all. But Carlos had made him a promise, and Cecil wanted to be ready when he kept it.

**********

The end came so slowly, but Cecil was there to watch every bit of it unfold. Every strange coincidence, the death of every star, the way the oceans fell away from earth, disinterested in what it had to offer.

One night, the sky split open, and Cecil knew there wasn’t much longer left. People were running, screaming, attempting to do things that very soon wouldn’t matter. Fires were burning, somewhere. Nobody cared to keep the chaos under control.

Cecil himself had abandoned his duties as a radio host. There wouldn’t be much he could say, not anymore. Instead, he sat on the roof of the station and thought about Carlos. He thought about the way he smiled when they were together, the face he always pulled when trying to solve a new mystery, the warmth of his arms around Cecil’s waist while they slept through the dark nights.

He had aged so well. Even when his hair turned gray, when it fell out, when his skin was corrupted by wrinkles, he was still the most handsome man Cecil had ever seen. He had stayed his brilliant self, right up until the very end.

Cecil watched chunks of the sky fall down to earth, watched the people scream and panic, and he shut his eyes. The end would be coming very soon.

There was a familiar warm hand on his thigh, someone was sitting beside him. Cecil kept his eyes shut. It couldn’t be, there was no way…

He could smell lavender chewing gum. But lavendar had gone extinct five years ago, chewing gum had been outlawed decades ago.

He opened his eyes. If he had one last chance, he had to see, he had to make sure…

Carlos was sitting there beside him, hand on his thigh, staring up at the breaking void, looking as fascinated and young as he had when they had done this long, long ago. There were a thousand things Cecil could have said in that instant, everything from assurances of his love to the doubt that Carlos was really here, but he said nothing.

He just rested his head on Carlos’s familiar shoulder.

**********

“The angels say I’ll come back.”

“Angels aren’t real, dear.”

“But they say I’ll see you again, even after-”

“Carlos....”

Cecil was crying, holding the hand of his dying lover. He hadn’t wanted this day to come, but in spite of that, here it was. Carlos was about to die. And they both knew it.

“Cece?”

“Y-yeah honey?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Carlos,” and Cecil had wailed, and pressed kisses to Carlos’s forehead, his cheeks, his lips. He kissed him and told him he loved him, over and over, promising him that he’d always love him.

At some point during this wave of affection, Carlos had stopped breathing, and no matter how much Cecil begged and pleaded, he didn’t breathe again.

**********

Cecil looked up at Carlos and smiled. Carlos looked at him and smiled back. “I said I’d come back,” he reminded him.

“I remember,” Cecil said, and he leaned forward to kiss Carlos, just once, gently.

They rested their foreheads together and gazed into each other’s eyes as the world crumbled around them. They were together, at long last.

Cecil felt content.

And with that, the universe ended.


End file.
